Two Friends Sharing Milkshakes
by aussiebabe290
Summary: AU. Oneshot. "This isn't a birthday thing. This is just two friends sharing milkshakes". "Just a regular, every day milkshake date".


**Not my best work, but the idea wouldn't leave. Read and review, please.**

* * *

Bridget Sanchez normally loved her birthday. It was the day where she would voluntarily pretend to be asleep, as her parents and two of her brothers sang down the hallway. Her birthday was special, because she shared it with her youngest brother.

She saw Pete as a pain in the butt for three hundred and sixty four days of the year, but on their birthday, they were best friends. They'd share their birthday pancakes with the traditional maple syrup, and share birthday cake in the evening. Parties were always held separately (Bridget taking the weekend before and Pete taking the weekend after), but for that one day of the year, they were friends.

"Can't help but notice somebody's got a birthday coming up", Cassie sang, as she lifted the pot of steaming beef casserole onto the table. "What are we doing, Bridget? The traditional Purple Iguana dinner?"

"Don't make a fuss", she said, shaking her head. "It's fine; we'll just do dinner here".

"Sure, we'll just ignore your birthday!" Charley shook his head in amusement. "Get real, Bridget".

"Second birthday of the year! What are we doing, Bec?" Guy wanted to know.

"I was thinking the traditional Purple Iguana dinner and after that, I'm not sure". The brunette shrugged. "We were going to leave that up to the birthday girl! What do you want, Bridget?"

"Let's do dinner here", she said. "It's Loren's night to cook, we'll have something good. What do you think, Lozzy?"

"It's your birthday, Bridget!" her roommate's eyes widened.

"Yeah, we can't ignore your birthday, Bridget", Garry said, completely clueless about the squirming blonde's wishes. "We'll do something!"

* * *

"Why doesn't Bridget want to do anything for her birthday?" Adam asked Loren, as they lounged around after dinner. Charley and Guy were sitting on the floor, Nintendo Wii remotes in hand, as Cassie and Loren stretched out on the lounges.

"Her little brother Pete has the same birthday as her", Loren said simply. "She's a little bit homesick at the thought of celebrating her birthday without him".

"Oh!" Bec's eyes widened. "Well, we'll have to fix that, won't we?"

"Bec, I don't think we're going to be able to fly Bridget's brother to Sydney on such short notice", Garry deadpanned. "Their birthday's Saturday. What's going on?"

"Nothing- when Joe and I had our birthday, the year I was here at the Academy, it was so weird because we weren't together. But I saw him during the day and we shared a cake that night, when Simmo took us all out for dinner?"

"Joe came?" Loren questioned.

"No, he wasn't as close to us at that point in the year. It was every other birthday dinner that he came to, to keep Anna company".

Loren nodded, and Garry saw the cogs work in her head the same way that he saw Bec's. Sighing, he just shook his head and sat back, waiting to see how it all turned out.

* * *

Along with their alarms on that particular Saturday, Garry marched down the hallway warbling out his birthday wishes to Bridget, as the six kids hauled themselves out of the comfort of their beds and into the chilly April air. Heading down to the beach (despite Charley's grumbles about the small stack of presents on the kitchen table, and why couldn't Bridget open them?), they yawned their way through their first stretches before Garry leapt into Commando mode (making Bec both laugh and cringe).

* * *

After their early morning training session (in which Garry felt particularly cruel and made them do a full twenty minutes of soft sand sprints, leaving the six teenagers feeling like jelly), they moved back to the house for breakfast, birthday present opening and to get ready for the day.

"Bridget, you're not allowed in the kitchen", Cassie said matter of factly, as she poured herself a glass of juice.

"At all?" Bridget questioned, as she read the card Bec and Garry had written, again. "Thanks, guys, I really love it".

"For the morning", Loren corrected. "Don't worry, it'll be fine",

So after breakfast was over and the dishes were piled into the sink, Bridget retreated up the stairs and the boys retreated to the pool room, leaving Cassie and Loren in the kitchen. She had a hunch that it wouldn't end well, but she wasn't about to tell them.

Bridget closed the bedroom door and curled up on her bed, hugging a pillow to her chest. Dialling her home phone number, she waited for someone to pick up.

"Hello?" a familiar voice said, and she broke into a grin.

"Jamie!"

"Bridget!" James laughed. "Hi, happy birthday! Hold on a sec, I'll get everyone and put them on speaker, 'key?" raising his voice, Bridget couldn't help but laugh. "OI! Guys! Bridget's on the phone!"

There was a thunder of footsteps and the blonde braced herself for the worst.

"Hi darling!"

"Bridget!"

"Happy birthday!"

"Hi guys! Happy birthday Pete!" she couldn't wipe the smile off her face, as she settled against the bed.

"Happy birthday Bridget!" Pete giggled. "Did you get our pressies?"

"No?"

"Ben forgot to mail it until yesterday", her father said, and she almost saw his stare. "You'll get it in a few days".

"I did get some pressies from everyone here- and we're going out for dinner tonight".

"So are we!" Pete said cheerfully. "I got your present, Bridget, thank you!"

"You're welcome!" she grinned widely, but the tears prickling the back of her eyes told another story. She hadn't been homesick in the entire four months it had been since she had touched down on Sydney sand, but at that time she would have given anything to be at home with her brothers. She knew that her parents would be taking Pete out to their favourite seafood restaurant for dinner, and she knew that Pete would be the only one slicing into the chocolate cake they shared every year. He'd be opening presents alone and would be the only one with bruises from Ben and James's birthday punches (although, with Charley, Guy and Adam, she knew that she would be sporting a few bruises, too).

"Do you guys have any plans for the day?" Ben asked.

"We're going out for dinner tonight, but we're just hanging around", she admitted. "It's going to be very casual".

"That's good, that's what we're doing, too", her father told her. "We're going down to the beach, though".

Bridget grinned. "We barely leave the beach when it's the weekend. I don't know, maybe I'll go down to the ocean pool or something. Cassie and Loren are making a cake or something, so it's just me and the boys and Bec and Garry"

"You need to email us more photos, Bridget", her mother said, almost scoldingly.

"I will, Mum", she promised.

"Bridget!"

"I've got to go, alright?" she said to them. "Happy birthday Petey, I love you. Love you guys!"

"Love you!"

"Happy birthday Bridget!"

"Happy birthday!"

Putting the phone down, she let out a long breath, massaging her temples. Right then, she would have given anything to be back on the Sunshine Coast.

"Hey Bridget!" Guy called down the hallway. "Birthday girl!"

"Yeah?"

"Want to go and get a milkshake?"

She grabbed her bag from the end of her bed, before sliding her feet into thongs. "Sure".

"I've been told you keep you out of the house", he said in an exaggerated whisper, as they headed down the stairs. She heard a shriek from the kitchen and Cassie poked her head into the hallway, a light dusting of flour on her face.

"Nothing to see here, keep moving people".

Bridget and Guy laughed and laughed, as they headed out the front door, all but collapsing on the sand in hysterics.

But after they had managed to compose themselves, they headed towards the main street of Blue Water, unsure of their final destination.

"Don't make a big fuss, alright Guy?" Bridget said finally. "Tonight, I mean. Try and rein Cass and Loz in".

"Well, that's going to be a little difficult". Guy grinned. "Yeah, that's potentially problematic. They mean well, Bridget. There are only eight of us. That's eight birthdays".

She nodded at his logic, knowing that when they were at home, they would have been invited out by their friends and family. But in Blue Water, it was just the six of them.

While most people thought living together would be enough, the six Solar Blue kids migrated towards each other at school, spending their recess and lunchtimes talking. They had friends, but felt the most comfortable in the company of their own group.

"I know", she said finally, as they reached the milk bar at the end of the main street.

When Bec first gave them a tour of Blue Water, when they first arrived in the small town, she pointed out all the favourite spots of past students (and her personal favourites, being a resident for twenty years). The Purple Iguana Café (the place for their traditional birthday dinners, she'd mentioned), the surf shop that had sales eighty five percent of the year (where they all purchased new cossies and board shorts), and the milk bar (that had the best milkshakes and bacon and egg rolls on the planet, she'd said, and they had discovered it for themselves after an after training trek on a Sunday morning, nothing in their tummies).

"This is isn't a birthday thing, either", Guy told her, as he handed her the strawberry milkshake.

"Yeah?" she checked, a grin on her face. "Then why was it your shout?"

"Because I'm feeling particularly generous today", he shot back. "But by no means is this for your birthday. This is just a regular, every day milkshake".

"Just two friends having a milkshake", Bridget nodded, unable to wipe the grin off her face. Taking a long sip, she squeezed his shoulders tight. "Thanks, Guy. You always know what to say".

Strolling along, sipping their milkshakes, they found themselves at the ocean pool, where they sat for a good three hours. They spoke about everything and anything, and when they ran out of things to talk about, they sat in a comfortable silence, Bridget's head leaning on Guy's shoulder.

* * *

"Happy birthday Bridget!" Loren grinned, as she took the lid off the Tupperware container the cake sat in. Bridget took one look at the cake and burst out laughing, wiping away the tears that leaked out.

"Loren, thank you!"

"You didn't think we'd forget about Pete, did you?" Adam said, his eyes widening in shock. "Bridget Sanchez, you underestimate us!"

In white gel, 'Happy Birthday Bridget (and Pete)' was frosted over the chocolate icing in Bec's unmistakable scrawl, and Bridget hugged her roommate again.

"So, it's not as good as being home for your birthday", Bec shrugged, squeezing her hand (she had had the opportunity to spend her entire birthday with her twin brother, when she was a Solar Blue student, as her childhood home was a mere two blocks away from the boarding house). "But it'll have to do, right?"

"Right", she agreed.

After the traditional loud and off key rendition of the birthday song, and the boys' traditional loud and off key rendition of 'why was she born so beautiful', Bridget squeezed her eyes shut and puffed out her seventeen candles, knowing that somewhere on the Sunshine Coast, Pete was doing the same thing, with a cake that had her name too frosted onto it.


End file.
